welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm gavin grey. these are our top stories: saying no to independence. supporters of a united spain stage a huge protest in barcelona, calling for catalonia's sacked leader to be jailed. britain's prime minister says she wants a new code of conduct to protect politicians and their staff from sexual harassment. puerto rico cancels a controversial multimillion dollar deal to rebuild the island's power grid, destroyed by hurricane maria. the president of iraq's autonomous kurdish region resigns after his bid for independence backfires. and lewis hamilton races into the record books, clinching his fourth formula one title at the mexican grand prix. hello.

prosecutors in spain are preparing to file criminal charges against catalonia's deposed president, carles puigdemont, possibly as soon as monday. mr puigdemont has refused to recognise madrid's order removing him from power. earlier, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of barcelona, to condemn catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence. it was one of the biggest shows of force to date by supporters of a united spain. our europe editor katya adler reports. # viva espa na. no doubting the passion of this crowd. belting out "long live spain" along barcelona's main boulevards.

these are catalans who don't want independence, who reject the independence declaration made last week. the mood here was festive, but the message serious. "i feel catalan and spanish," says this young woman. "spain must stay united," this woman insisted. "catalonia with spain". a little later, in front of the catalan government offices, frustration with separatist politicians bubbled over. the crowd here demanded the immediate arrest 2of carles puigdemont, the catalan president sacked —— of carles puigdemont, the catalan president sacked this weekend by the spanish government. but he insists he'll keep building an independent catalonia regardless. but, right now, he's avoiding the public glare. and where is mr puigdemont,

48 hours after he declared the new catalan republic? well, he left barcelona this weekend, coming here to the mediaeval town of girona. it is his hometown, also known as the heartland of catalan nationalism. but right now it's in full fiesta swing. today was the annual celebration of this town's patron saint, complete with human—tower building, a time—honoured catalan tradition. translation: the human tower symbolises the catalan spirit. when we stick together, we can achieve big things, reach for the sky! the mayor of girona is a good friend of carles puigdemont. for her and other independence supporters, he remains the catalan president, whatever spain says. is he worried about going to jail?

translation: of course president puigdemont is worried about being arrested. the spanish government has already jailed two independence activists, so he is concerned, but never afraid. l454: ‘1% sea—94w i think the catalan republic exists, so if most people of catalonia believe in catalan republic, wait and see, and the people will recognise that. but how can an independent catalonia work, i wondered, when spain is backed politically by the eu, and when the spanish government says it has seized direct control of catalonia? translation: we can't accept what spain says, that it has sacked the catalan government, the one we voted for. we have now declared our independence. what spain says is no

longer relevant. ecstatic scenes in girona tonight after the local football club beat legends, real madrid. the game had been labelled david against goliath. independence supporters here want to take this as an omen. katya adler, bbc news, girona. about hillary clinton and the democratic party. it comes amid reports that the first arrest in the russian collusion inquiry could be imminent. however, mr trump insists the allegations are phony and a witch hunt. somalia's government has sacked the country's police and intelligence chiefs a day after two bomb attacks and a siege took place in the capital, mogadishu. at least 27 people were killed in the attack by al—shabaab militants. it came just two weeks after another attack where over 350 people died, one of the deadliest ever to hit mogadishu. kenya's opposition leader

raila odinga says kenyans won't be ruled by the gun. he addressed supporters on sunday at a church in nairobi. violent clashes broke out following a re—run of presidential elections boycotted by mr odinga. election authorities postponed the vote in four volatile western counties and are yet to announce when the polls in those areas will go ahead. british prime minister theresa may has suggested there should be or those working for them, from sexual harassment. it comes after the international trade minister, mark garnier, was placed under investigation after admitting giving his secretary money to buy items in a sex shop. here's our political correspondent alex forsyth. westminster‘s trying to work out how to handle recent claims of impropriety. today, the trade minister, mark garnier, was the subject of a newspaper report

which said seven years ago, he once asked a former secretary to buy sex toys. mr garnier didn't deny it, but said it had been taken out of context, calling it "good—humoured hijinks that did not constitute harassment." nonetheless, the government was keen to act quickly. these stories, if they're true, are obviously totally unacceptable, and the cabinet office will be conducting an investigation as to whether there's been a breach of the ministerial code in this particular case, but as you know, the facts are disputed. what i would say is that there are mums and dads who have daughters who are politics students hoping to get a job in westminster, and they must be able to be confident that if they get that job, their daughter will not be subject to some of these behaviours that we've been seeing. last week, labour mp jared o'mara was suspended after apologising for sexist and homophobic comments. and the tory mp stephen crabb has reportedly said sorry for sending

explicit text messages to a woman who he interviewed four years ago. here, it's accepted there's a problem that crosses party lines. the question, how to solve it? currently, staff employed by mps can raise concerns about their bosses on a confidential helpline or to the standards commissioner. but in a letter to the commons speaker, the prime minister says the current system lacks teeth, and there should be a formal grievance and discipline process written into contracts. labour and conservative mps have said a clear system to report concerns might help but there is recognition that a change in culture is needed and that's harder to achieve. some hope renewed debate about sexual harassment may mark a turning point so what people once thought they had to put up with will no longer be accepted. things have changed compared to the way they once were. it's partly to do with the fact it was a very male environment. 650 mp5.

when i went there, just 20 odd women. it's partly to do with the idea that all these men were away from home. it's partly to do with the fact there were eight bars and very long hours and the bars were open for as long as we're sitting. and partly it was the notion of what happens in westminster stays in westminster. it was worse. it's a little bit better now, but there's a long way to go. claims of sexism, even scandal, have dogged this place for decades, but renewed public pressure is forcing parliament to change its practices. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. puerto rico has cancelled a $300 million contract with a tiny us energy company to restore the island's power grid after hurricane maria destroyed the country's power infrastructure. puerto rico electric power authority, or prepa, announced the decision to journalists just hours after the governor urged the cancellation of the deal with the montana—based whitefish energy holdings. saying they are "very

disappointed" in the decision. adding that during its time in puerto rico the whitefish energy team "completed significant work on two major transmission lines" leading to the "restoration of power to hospitals, businesses and residents." joanisabel gonzalez is a business reporter at el nuevo dia, which is the largest paper in the puerto rico. shejoins me now from sanjuan. the worst storm for 80 years, three and a half million people needing to be reconnected and the economy in a mess. this announcement is just going to confiscate things even more. absolutely, sir. we learned from prepa's executive director that the cancellation of the whitefish

energy holding contract will delay the process of restoring the grid for about three months. so despite a lot of controversy, because able to unfortunately prepa was not able to clarify the way they contracted whitefish, now we are going to be waiting another three months to get power restored. and when the bidding process was put together, residents, local officials and also us federal authorities all criticised the arrangement of how it was all decided. absolutely. unfortunately, prepa wasn't clear enough at the time of awarding this contract. there are plenty of contradictions. to begin with, at first they said that they launched a bidding process just to learn only two days ago that that wasn't the case, that they launched an initial proposal request, but then it was entirely separate. so apparently prepa

decided to pursue a private contractor to fix the grid instead of asking help from other public utilities in the united states through a neutral aid programme. as it happens now, we have found in our case that all of the rates that were pa rt case that all of the rates that were part of the proposal of whitefish are entirely different from those that finally landed in the contract. and in some cases we found a gap of 1596 and in some cases we found a gap of 15% and even 40% between the proposal and what was finally negotiated and signed into the contract. well, as we say, whitefish haveissued contract. well, as we say, whitefish have issued the statement and say they are proud of the work that they we re they are proud of the work that they were able to complete thus far. thank you. the president of iraqi kurdistan, masoud barzani, has stepped down, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis. in a defiant television address, mr barzani said that nobody had

stood up for the kurds after their vote on independence last month, and accused his rivals of treason. quentin sommerville's report from erbil contains flash photography. for the kurds, it is an end without triumph. as protesters attempted to storm its parliament, behind closed doors, an era was coming to an end. translation: i refuse to continue in the position of president and i will serve kurdistan as a peshmerga and i will continue to fight for the rights of the kurds and preserve the achievements of the kurdish people. president massoud barzani had hoped to leave office as father of an independent nation of kurdistan, but instead, the kurdish region and his legacy are diminished. in a televised address, he spoke of betrayal. "3 million votes for kurdistan independence created history and cannot be erased," he said. "nobody stood tall beside us other than our mountains." in september, the 71—year—old leader

gambled big on a referendum, voting to separate from iraq. the kurdish people backed it enthusiastically but almost no—one else did. baghdad said it was unconstitutional. the kurds' neighbours called it a mistake. the international commmunity rejected it from the start. with the battle against the so—called islamic state still not won, for the west this was a disaster in the making. the ground forces, kurds and arabs, fighting against is, now turned their guns on each other. baghdad quickly took charge. in the rich oilfields around kirkuk, the kurds fled. tonight, in erbil, the violence is now over but the recriminations will continue. president barzani has lost his job but the kurds have lost more. territory, oil, and any hopes of a quick road to independence

are all gone. quentin sommerville, bbc news, erbil in northern iraq. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: powerful storms sweep across central europe, killing at least three people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation." after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring.

booster ignition and liftoff of discovery, with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. well, enjoying the show is right — this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet. the latest headlines. supporters of a united spain have staged a huge protest in barcelona as prosecutors prepare criminal charges against pro—independence leaders. the president of iraq's autonomous kurdish region has resigned after his bid for independence backfired. a powerful storm has hit central europe killing at least five

people, cutting electricity supplies, and disrupting traffic. falling trees killed two people in the czech republic, while in poland, a driver died after crashing into a branch on the road. hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity in both countries. with more, here's david campanale. strong winds of more than 140 kilometres per hour have led to problems across central europe and they have been the cause of human tragedy, too. in the czech republic, falling trees proved all too deadly for one woman in a forest and an elderly man out on the street. strong winds have halted traffic on dozens of railways and several important roads. the state—run power company says hundreds of thousands of households in the czech republic have been left without power, largely because of falling trees. translation: the tree has fallen

in the direction where it has fallen and it did not fall on the house over there and so it caused less damage. in the north of the country, the wind caused a wooden orthodox church to topple over. some rivers have reached their highest flood alert levels. germany has also been affected. railway operator deutschebahn is citing what it called significant damage on main routes in the north, forcing it to suspend services until monday. the storm has caused flooding in hamburg where waters rose up around the city's historic fish market and in several districts. a 63—year—old man drowned at a campsite in lower saxony. in poland, almost 300,000 households are without electricity. continuous rains have been the cause of heavy flooding there. a warning issued by weather forecasters says the people of poland must stand by for more gales overnight and into monday. hundreds of philippine families have

returned to the southern city of marawi after five months of fighting. tens of thousands of people fled when islamist militants linked to the islamic state group tried to take the city in may. more from our asia pacific editor, celia hatton. returning to marawi to discover what five months of violence has done to this city. the owner of this store fled when militants attacked nearby. in her absence, almost everything was stolen. and still, she considers herself to be lucky. translation: we are grateful because we still have somewhere to go home to, even if everything has been damaged, because they can be fixed in the future, there is still a chance to fix things.

for months, most of the 200,000 people of marawi lived in camps like this while the philippine military battled islamist rebels. the militants hoped to establish a base for islamic state here. they lost the battle. this was one of the rebel leader's hideouts before he was killed. more than 1000 others also died in the fighting, most of them militants. the traffic has returned, but beyond these clogged streets, many buildings are in ruins. some families are allowed to go back to the parts that have been cleared of weapons and unexploded bombs, but most people do not have electricity or water. their homes were torn apart by strangers. translation: it seems someone rummaged through our house. we don't know why. maybe they were trying to find something. we're not sure. the authorities say it will cost more than $1 billion for marawi to be rebuilt.

for these students, that work starts with cans of paint. translation: we thought if people see this, people will know longer be afraid, no longer be afraid of soldiers, and encourage one another to help rebuild ourfuture. these murals appear on the road back to marawi. for some, it will be a long journey to rebuild what was once an ordinary life in a quiet city. celia hatton, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the government is expected to begin moves towards legislating for a budget for northern ireland if there's no agreement to restore the power—sharing executive. talks will resume at stormont on monday morning but there's no sign of an end to the deadlock between the democratic unionist party and sinn fein. the government has stressed that its priority is still to get local ministers back into office. police in indonesia have detained the owner and the manager of a fireworks factory outside jakarta after a fire led

to the deaths of at least 48 workers. police say both men are suspected of negligence and employing underage workers. it's believed the fire started when sparks from a welding torch landed on piles of raw materials used for making fireworks. saudi arabia is to allow women to attend sports events in stadiums for the first time. families will be able to enter the stadiums in riyadh, jeddah and dammam, the country's three main cities, from early in 2018. the latest announcement is another move towards giving saudi women more freedom, following the lifting of the driving ban last month. heathrow airport says it's begun an internal investigation, after a memory stick containing security information was found on a street in west london. the unencrypted drive is said to have outlined details of the security arrangements at europe's busiest airport. 0ur security correspondent, gordon corera, has more. this is serious and embarrassing.

it is serious because of what was on the memory stick. details of the security procedures when the queen uses the airport, as well as other vips. timetables of security patrols, locations of cctv cameras, even the location of escape hatches from the heathrow express tunnel. all the kind of information that would be invaluable to somebody who wanted to attack the airport. and we know that aviation remains a top target. there's no evidence got the wrong hands, but what's embarrassing was how it was found. it was simply found under some leaves on a street in west london, then handed over to the sunday mirror. what heathrow are not saying is whether the material was supposed to be allowed out of the office. if so, why was it not encrypted with a password, so if lost, it could not be read, or if it was not meant to be taken out. perhaps more serious because it then speaks to their data controls

on their most sensitive data. heathrow says they have reviewed their security. they believe the airport remained secure and they have launched an investigation to try and find out what happened. lewis hamilton has clinched his fourth world title at the mexican grand prix despite finishing only ninth after a clash with rival sebastian vettel. hamilton's fourth world title makes him the most successful british formula i driver in history. his unassailable lead in the championship means he's wrapped up the title with two races still to go. so, this is where he stands in terms of all time greats. as we've heard, hamilton now stands alone amongst british drivers. sirjackie stewart won three world titles. his rival this year, sebastien vettel has, like hamilton, four titles to his name. frenchmen, alain prost, also has four, whilejuan manuel fangio won the title five times back in the 1950s. and the most successful driver of all time is still micheal schumacher on seven world

titles between 1994 and 200a. there were plenty of congratulatory messages from the sporting world. usain bolt used the hashtags "anything is possible" and "don't think limits." "congratulations, lewis," wrote nico rosberg. "well deserving champion!" also brilliant for team mercedes to clinch both titles." and fellow british racing great nigel mansell said the win was, "in one word, brilliant." a doctor involved with historic surgery in india, to separate twins born joined at the head, says one of the toddlers has regained consciousness. jaga has now opened his eyes and responded to simple commands. his twin, kalia, is on medication to control seizures and isn't yet conscious. the two—year—old boys were born fused at the skull and shared some blood vessels. the procedure took more than 16 hours. doctors say they're pleased

with their progress so far. hello again, good morning. this is the first widespread cold night of the season. it's been a very mild month so far. we've still got a few showers, actually, running down the north sea by the morning, hitting some coastal areas of england. but otherwise, with that high pressure building in, it's led to clear skies, light winds, and temperatures have been falling away sharply — particularly in the countryside, where there'll be at least a grass frost, and perhaps, in some areas, an air frost as well. either way, it'll be a cold start in the morning. there'll be a lot of sunshine around, mind you. those showers around the wash, norfolk, suffolk, fading through the morning, and then some changes in the north—west. we're trying to get back into that atlantic air, and that means some weak weather fronts bringing in some more cloud into northern ireland and scotland, perhaps bringing some rain to the north. but generally, most places will be dry into the afternoon.

we'll probably see more cloud coming into northern england, wales, and the midlands in the afternoon. high cloud, but it does mean it is quite chilly in the day across these areas. temperatures about 8—9 degrees or so. where we hang onto some sunshine in southern england we will see 11 degrees. but it is here, with the clear skies, that there is a risk of frost on monday night, particularly early on. it takes a little while for mild air to reach here, but mild air is on the way, and temperatures will be rising on tuesday. we've got the strengthening west to south—westerly wind, and that means a lot of cloud. we'll see some rain developing in scotland. some heavy rain across the hills in scotland. but most of england and wales it'll be a fine day. still some sunshine in the south—east, and temperatures a little bit higher, at 13 or 1a degrees. high pressure that we've got building in the uk right now is going to be across central europe by tuesday and wednesday, these weather fronts coming around the top of that, bringing some more rain for the first day of november. and that rain, again, for scotland, especially in the west of scotland, maybe extending into northern ireland later.

again, for england and wales, a dry day, pleasantly warm, winds light, too. the weather front weakened as it moves its way southwards. not much rain on thursday. but that bump of high pressure means it could be a touch cooler in northern parts of the uk, maybe a touch of grass frost in some areas. 0therwise generally a dry day, and bright, with some sunshine. still the threat of some rain lingering across the channel and into southern england. coldest weather over the week ahead — probably right now. it will turn milder on tuesday and wednesday, with increasing cloud. and, as we've seen, not much rain away in the north—west. this is bbc news. the headlines: prosecutors in spain are preparing to file criminal charges against catalonia's deposed president, carles puigdemont, possibly as soon as monday. he's refused to recognise madrid's order removing him from power. earlier, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of barcelona to condemn catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence.

the british prime minister theresa may has suggested there should be new codes of conduct designed to protect mps and their staff from sexual harassment. it comes as the international trade minister, mark garnier, was placed under investigation, after admitting giving his secretary money to buy items in a sex shop. puerto rico has cancelled a controversial $300 million contract with a tiny us energy company to restore the island's power grid, after hurricane maria destroyed the country's power infrastructure. now on bbc news, dateline london.